Positive Tips #12: Write a Good Old Fashioned Letter

Emails. I see tons and tons of emails every single day in my personal inbox and in my work inbox. Emails are a great thing, a great step in humanity. It lets us stay connected with each other very easily. It’s so fast to just type something out, add perhaps a picture or a link and send the electronic pulse on its merry way to your inbox. What’s nice about this too is in addition to not taking days to receive, it costs only the electricity needed to send it off.

While it’s great to get emails from other friends, I rarely get emails that matter. Even with the fast delivery, I usually think of emails as alerts or messages from work saying you need to do something. What happened to our society? What happened to the good old fashioned letter?

I rarely get letters nowadays. I think the last letter I got was from Nabila and it was on my birthday as part of a package. Now I don’t know about you but I jump for joy when I get a letter. It really means a lot more nowadays to get something that is handwritten and obviously took some time to put together. Getting a letter gives a sense of legitimacy in the purpose of the letter. The handwriting gives a personal touch in a day in age where personal touches are defined by emoticons and squiggly lines next to your name. Getting a letter quite simply gives you the feeling that someone cares about you.

So here’s my challenge to you. Put down your cell phones and stop texting. Stop the emailing. Stop IMing. Grab a piece of paper and pick up something that’s called a pencil or perhaps if you’re fancy, pick up a pen. Write to your lover. Write to your family. Write to your friends. Tis the season to write to Santa (you better mail that letter off quickly though…). My point is, write a letter today to someone. Guaranteed, they will have a smile on their face.